Reality is Not Enough
by AngeloftheMorning1978
Summary: Five months after Hecate's kidnapping, the Team  most of them  have moved on. When Evidence that Hecate is still alive and coming after them, Sybil has to face not only her inner demons but the Beast in the flesh. The 7th in my series. An A and B story
1. Chapter 1

Reality is not enough

_"I look inside myself and see my heart is black,_

_I see my red door and it has been painted black._

_Maybe then I'll fade away and not have to face the fact,_

_It's not easy facing up when your whole world is black."_

_Paint It Black, by The Rolling Stones_

**Cobb**- The Extractor

**Arthur**- The Point Man

**Ariadne**- The Architect

**Eames**- The Forger

**Saito**- The Businessman

**Fischer**- The Young Businessman

**Yori**- The Doctor

**Braker**- The Australian Forger

**Sybil**-The Girl/ The Control

**Hecate**- The Chemist/ The Beast

**Alexander**- A&A's son/ the Baby

**Circe**- The Witch

**Saint Cloud, France.**

**Four years after the Fischer Inception, **

**Five months after the Fischer kidnapping**

Morning broke open the French sky. It chased away the darkness with it's welcoming light and sounds.

Sybil was pouring cereal into her bowl that last morning. The night before had been her graduation. The Team had had a small but very nice party for her. Saito had flown down form Japan with her new shinny red Bentley. He had honored the arrangement they had made. Sybil had graduated the top of her class. The Girl had taken summer classes and, despite the stress of the kidnapping, she excelled easily over her contemporaries.

The Girl looked up from her untouched cereal.

On the mantle piece, above the tacky large TV, were arranged fashionable picture frames. Ariadne had used her formidable photography skills to capture the 'family' and hold them there. Large artistic photographs of Alexander, James and Phillipa. An old but still prominent family photo of Cobb, Mal and their Children (taken before her tragic death of course). A nice candid photo of Ariadne and Arthur, snapped sniper like by Eames, only a month before. The Point Man, holding the Architect in his arms, smiling at her. It was something he could never pose for. Professional family portrait of Saito, Yori and their two year old son Shin. A rouge, candid photo of the Girl and Eames. Making goofy faces for the camera. Happier times. Front and center, was a lovely photo of the Team at her Seventeenth Birthday Party last month.

Like her graduation party, it had been a home affair. Sybil admitting that the nature of their lives gave her no time for friends. Ariadne had engaged a famous bakery in Paris to create a splendid birthday cake for the Girl. It had been a magnificent cake. Pink and gold, to match her beautifully wrapped presents and the decorations of pink roses the Architect had put around the parlor. Ariadne had outdone herself with the elegant little family party and had the pictures to prove it. She had dressed the birthday girl in a fashionable pink party dress, perfectly matching the party's colors.

Sybil had to shake her head at the poor girl in the pink party dress. What a horrible predicament to find herself in. In the photograph, the girl in the dress smiled bravely, surrounded by people posing as her family. The Architect had her arms around the Girl's waist, their faces were side by side together, in an attempt to squeeze everyone in. Sybil could see how easy it was for people to mistake them for sisters. With their matching hair color and similar facial features. Even their height was roughly the same.

Ariadne had finally managed to get everyone in that picture, including Saito and his family. Even Miles had drove in from Paris to attend. She had judged it an impossible feat and proudly displayed the results in a large frame that over powered the other photos. Anyone on the outside looking in, would assume they _were_ a happy family.

"Did Arthur take the baby?" Ariadne had asked coming into the parlor from downstairs.

"I think so." Cobb had told her coming into the room from the downstairs. He shared a small wing of the house with his Children. Their lives separate from Ariadne, Arthur, Alexander and Sybil. Who lived upstairs. Only Eames had the luxury of a small apartment in Paris that had once been Ariadne's. He still spent most of his free time with the Team in the Saint Cloud house.

The Extractor and the Architect went to work on making coffee and a light breakfast as the Girl stood looking at her cereal. They ignored the Sybil, not out of any meanness, simply because they were focused on the busy pace of domestic life.

"Are you still picking up James and Phillipa from the airport?" The Ariadne asked. Cobb shook his head.

"No, Mal's parents want to keep them a few more days." Cobb said with a sad shrug. Sybil's had managed to graduate before the Christmas break that had taken Cobb's Children back to the States to see their other Grandparents. Ariadne put an hand on the Extractor's shoulder.

"I'm sure their having a lot of fun." She told him trying to be a comfort. The front door opened and heavy footfalls cut across the sounds of the morning. Arthur had come in caring his 9 month old son Alexander. The Forger had come in behind them.

Ariadne gasped when she saw her son.

"What did you do to him!" She cried. Alexander, sensing his mother's distress started to cry. Arthur held the baby high in his capable arms.

"He got a hair cut." The Point Man had said proudly.

"His hair!" The Architect cried taking her son away from his father. She looked at Arthur and Eames. The Forger shook his head and pointed at her husband. Not willing the share any blame.

"People at Sybil's graduation said he looked like a girl. His hair was to long." Arthur told her matter of factually.  
>"No they didn't!" Ariadne said angrily, inspecting her baby's cropped hair that had once been so long and shining. Arthur sighed<p>

"Regardez la petite fille." He said. "Fille is girl."

"No it isn't." Ariadne told him. "Your French is horrible. It's _always_ been horrible, right Sybil?"

"I think it looks nice, he looks like a boy now." Arthur retorted

"You cut my baby's hair off without my permission." Ariadne said smoothing out Alexander's hair who had stopped crying by now.

"No." Arthur said calmly. "I gave my _son_ is first hair cut. It's a father's privilege and duty, right Cobb?"

"Don't bring me into this." Cobb said with a smile. Secretly he agreed that Ariadne had allowed Alexander's hair to become to long. The baby had soft brown waves that reached his shoulders and it would have been forgivable to mistake him for a girl.

"You had no right to take him for his first hair cut without even telling me." the Architect said finally. She smooth out his hair some more. "Do you have the lock of hair for his baby book?" She asked.

"What?" He asked. Her face became stern.

"The lock of hair from his first hair cut so I can put it in his baby book." She said to him as if he were to young or stupid to understand. Arthur looked to Cobb and Eames for help. He turned to his wife and shook his head. She gave him a dirty look and turned away to take the baby upstairs.  
>"Were in a fight!" She yelled once she had reached the landing.<p>

"Alright." Arthur said casually and with a slight grin. As if it didn't matter to him.

"She took it much better then I thought she would." Eames said. "Since the Misses is mad at you, I think we should have a boys night out."

"It's eight in the morning." Cobb told him.  
>"<em>Day<em> out then, Mr. Picky." Eames amended.

"Sounds good." Arthur said with a laugh. He knew spending the day away from his wife would be a good thing. Occasionally they had a fight, like all married people. It never meant anything serious. She just need time to be mad at him for a while.  
>"Sybil." Cobb said to the Girl "Don't forget you have a meeting with Miles this afternoon at the college." He was heading out the door as he finished his sentence, The men leaving for the day.<p>

The quite of the morning, coming back down on her again. Like an oppressive weight. Sybil had been to tired to even speak during the entire exchange and everyone had been to busy to notice.

She looked down at her untouched cereal. It had become to soggy to eat. She looked back at the family photographs. The Brave smiles, the happier times. She felt a sudden compression of her chest. Hard to breath. She dumped her uneaten breakfast in the trash and went upstairs to her room.

It was later that evening, that Arthur's phone went off. He, Cobb and Eames were out at a Cafe, ready to enjoy another few hours out. The Point Man looked down at the caller ID. He smiled.

"What is it? The Misses?" Eames chuckled. Arthur nodded and gave the phone to the Forger who answered it.  
>"E'llo Darling." Eames said. "Can we come home now?" He asked as the men laughed. They had been drinking that night and even Arthur was feeling relaxed.<p>

"Eames." Ariadne came back over the phone. "You guys need to come home."

"Were having fun." The Forger whined.

"Sybil never showed up for her meeting with Miles today." Ariadne told him "She's not in the house and she left her cell phone here."

Eames stopped his joking for once. The situation was serious.  
>"Right, we'll be right home." The Forger said. He hung up the phone and handed it back to Arthur. "Time to pay the tab and hail a cab boys." He said.<p>

There were few basic rules that applied to everyone on the Team. Keep a bag packed at all times, and always keep your cell phone with you. There were others naturally, but those two were so basic and obvious for their safety. It made no sense that someone as responsible as Sybil would ignore one of them. Saito had given the Team experimental global cell phones that could not be hacked or corrupted. It made things much...neater.

"Her clothes are still in her room, her go bag is still by her door." Ariadne told them. Arthur gave his wife a hug and whispered

"I'm sorry" into her ear. She nodded and tried to wipe away a stray tear.

"Her car?" Eames asked.

"It's still in the garage. She doesn't have a French Driver's license yet." Ariadne told him.

"I'll check the security cameras." The Point Man said going to the little hall closet.

"There's something else." Ariadne said almost in a hushed tone. They turned and looked at the Architect. She was shaking.

"I was in her room and I found those." She pointed to a pile of towels, all covered with blood. Now dry and the color of rusted red. "There was also fresh blood in the bathroom." She said

_**I know... I can't let them be happy. But if they stay happy, then there is no conflict and the story ends. Also this story has Sybil going out on her own. But you have to trust me, I have great plans for her that I think it will make a good story. There will be an (A) story and a (B) story. **_

_** There will be plenty of A&A in this don't worry. **_

_** Sybil is almost grown now and I can no longer call her "The Girl", so I will try to phase that out and call her "The Control". **_

_** Arthur and Ariadne's fight is based on a real fight some friend's of mine had over their own son's first hair cut. The mother is still mad about it. Her "baby" is almost 20 now. **_


	2. Chapter 2

First Impressions

"_The First thing I do in the morning is brush my teeth and sharpen my tongue."_

_Dorothy Parker._

Sybil had every intention of leaving that morning for good. She took only her tattered messenger bag with her. It was the only thing she had left from her old life. For some reason, she wanted to leave everything else behind.

She wasn't sure why she was doing this. She was sure this world was real. Things Hecate couldn't know about were in there place. She was starting to understand why the dreams would drive someone insane. She didn't _feel_ crazy. At least not most of the time. But there were times. Dark times when she could barely stand to keep breathing.

When the Team checked the security camera's that night, it would show their Control walking out of the driveway and to the train station.

The cold was hanging in the air and the rain was starting to come down. She had bought a cup of coffee at the little cafe on her way to catch her train. Sybil was staring at the innocent tracks as the train to Paris approached, when a voice called her name.

"Your Sybil right?" An American accents asked. The Girl turned to see a young man, barely out of teens. She must have given him a particularly savage look as he took a step back and put his hands up. "I just need to talk to you." He said. Sybil ignored the Young Man as she boarded the train to Paris. The Young Man followed her. She took her normal seat on the train as he followed. He seemed out of place in the European city. He was obviously not used to the foreign nature of mass transit. When he sat down on the seat facing her, she relented.

"So talk, you have 20 minuets till we reach Paris." Her voice felt strange after having been dormant for several days. A sharp sting snapped on her hip from that mornings cutting. She knew it was bleeding freely.

"I'm from America." The Young Man said.

"No kidding." Sybil said looking board.

"My name is Nolan*. I've been looking for Cobb and his Team for a week now. Your not easy to find." The Young Man admitted.

Sybil gave him a good look for the first time. He was good looking. Perhaps in the military with his close cropped hair. He certainly stuck out in France, with his faded jeans and T-Shirt. The all weather, mass produced, winter coat was the final nail in the coffin. How could he not be an American? Sybil found herself laughing. It felt good.  
>"Something funny?" The Young Man asked.<br>"It's funny that you felt you had to _tell me_ your from the States." She said. "It's pretty obvious. The Military obviously didn't train you in counter intelligence did they?" Nolan looked taken aback.

"I never told you I was in the Air Force." He said.

"Sure you did." She countered boldly. She sighed and looked at him again. "Your hair cut for starters. Standardized cut. Even if you did prefer to keep you hair that short, there's your posture. No one stands and sits that strait unless their active military." The Young man fell back in his seat as if to prove her wrong. She took a sip of her warm coffee. It felt good on her empty stomach.

"Fine, you know everything about me from my hair cut." Nolan relented. Sybil could feel the irritated need to hurry that all Americans had. She had to laugh again. It had been so long since she had been around American's she found this one amusing.

"So why did you need to find us?" She asked not wanting their conversation to end. He sighed and leaned towards her lowering his voice.

"About five months you, and part of your Team, were taken by a woman named Hecate. She was working for Robert Fischer." Nolan said. Sybil tried to keep her face impassive. "You and your people escaped. You tied her to a tree and left her for dead." Nolan went on. The Young Man held her gaze and spoke with a very real sense of finality. "She didn't die." He finished.

Sybil said nothing as he waited for a reaction.

"Neat story." She told him finally. "Is that why you came all the way to France?"

"You and your Team are in danger." He said. Sybil did laugh now.

"My Team huh? I don't know about any Teams but my sister's husband can handle himself, trust me." She told him

"Ariadne is not your sister and you know that as well as I do." Nolan said with assurance. This time Sybil did look shocked. She gave him a hard look. He continued.

"Hecate will return to her support network and regroup. Then, she will come after all of you."

"How do you know about all this?" She asked, annoyed.

"It's apart of my job, to research prospective targets for Extraction." Nolan admitted.

"You work in Extraction?" Sybil said. He nodded.

"The U.S. Is having the military explore Extraction?" She asked but didn't need any help putting the pieces together.

"For a few years now. It's something they can't leave to rouge Extractors like Cobb." He explained.

"You were researching us so you could take us out." Sybil accused coldly.  
>"We were going to recruit Cobb, Arthur and Ariadne. Their the best in their fields" Nolan admitted.<p>

"Well why didn't you?" She asked.

"Because Hecate took out my entire Extraction Team last week." He said. Sybil remained silent as the ticket vender approached them.

"Sir Billet?" The vender asked. Nolan looked up at the man. Not understanding what he wanted. "Sir Billet?" The vender said louder.

"Ummm I'm sorry, I don't understand." Nolan said, a helpless look on his face. Sybil reached into her bag and pulled free some cash.

"Un billet pour Paris, s'il vous plait. Desole, il est un American." She said in her perfect French. The vender took her cash and gave her a one way ticket to Paris. He cast Nolan a filthy look before leaving them in peace.

"Umm... Thank you." he said. She looked at him seriously.

"What do you mean by 'return to her support network'?" She asked.

"Robert Fischer." Nolan said "You didn't think he actually committed suicide, did you?" Nolan asked. The feeling of finally knowing more then her was written on his face.

In a tiny little Cafe, Sybil sat down with the Young Man to share a coffee. She had to chastise him about donning a baseball cap as soon as they left the train and made him share her umbrella.  
>"Because locals don't wear baseball caps." She told him when he asked. "You look like a tourist."<p>

"I am a tourist." He told her.

"Yes, but you don't want to _look_ like one." She told him. "You want to look like you _belong_ here. You should blend in." He sighed and looked around the tiny little cafe. He shed his coat to reveal broad shoulders and a well toned body. She sighed.

"Now, see what your doing right now?" She carped at him. "With the posture and the nice body? _That's_ not blending in." She said in a catty superior tone. He gave her a harsh look as she ordered them two hot drinks.

"Tell me what you _think_ you know about Robert Fischer." She said as soon as they had some privacy. He looked around them. The Cafe was almost empty.

"He's in India. Security camera's caught him entering the country about four months ago now."

"Why India?" She asked.

"We don't know." He said "Not the type of hang out for a rich man's son."

"Hmmm." she said softly. "You said she took out your Team? How did one woman do all that?"

"I imagine the same way she took out your team." Nolan said.

"She went under deep infiltration for over a year and had sexual relations with your Extractor?" Sybil asked her eyebrows raised.

"Hecate, is highly trained in weapons and military tactics. She is... lethal." He finished soberly. Sybil nodded.

"When she was found in the woods, your Team got a hold of her. You knew she was a Chemist, you tried to manipulate her. She used your Team to make her escape. Then killed them." She worked out.

"In a nut shell yes." he admitted

"And now you think you can use _me_, to locate her." Sybil added

"She _will_ come after you and your Team." He assured her.

"You said that your Team was planning on recruiting Cobb, Arthur and Ariadne. Why not myself and Eames?" She asked changing the subject.

"Because their Americans. Makes things easier. Eames is a British citizen and you were born in Ireland." He explained.

"Well that's a neat trick." Sybil laughed. "_I_ don't even know where I was born."

"Like I said, I did research on your Team." Nolan explain.

"Run Point for them as well?" She asked. He looked surprised and nodded.

"So I guess our next move will be go to India so you can help me find Fischer." Sybil told the American Point Man as she sipped her coffee and looked board.

"Don't you want to warn your people?" Nolan asked

"Like I told you, they can handle themselves. Besides I left my phone." She confessed

"Left your phone?" He asked doubtfully. She ignored him.

"I'm also not 100% sure you are who you say. I'm not ready to expose my people or believe anything you say, till you can show me Robert Fischer is alive." She told him. The reality of course being that she had no plans on ever returning back tot he Team.

"Fair enough." Nolan said. He turned around to wave at their waiter for the check. He never saw Sybil lift his wallet from his coat.

Eames had made certain she knew how to pick pockets. He had felt it was a valuable skill set for anyone to know.

"Well take trains most of the way." She told him folding the wallet in her hands, making it vanish.

"No." He said. "Plane would be faster."

"True, but trains don't check ID. We can't leave a trail. We need to blend in remember?" She said standing up and throwing money from his wallet on the table.

They hailed a cab in the rain. Nolan held open the door for her. He never paid attention as she openly looked through his wallet, not realizing it was his.

"Huh." She said looking at his Washington Driver's License. "With a first name like Percy*, I don't blame you for going by your last name." She told him. The American Point Man suddenly realized it was his own wallet Sybil was riffling though.

"How did you get that?" He asked angrily taking it back from her.  
>"You keep your wallet in your coat pocket." She explained. "Not smart." She felt a smile creep on her face as the cab took the pair to the train station.<p>

***Nolan: I wanted to name my new character after "Inception" creator Christopher Nolan. **

***Percy: Perseus, Greek hero who killed the deadly Gorgon, Medusa.**


	3. Chapter 3

Slow the Rain

"_If you ever think your drowning,_

_I'll try and slow the rain."_

_A Bird's Song, Ingrid Michaelson_

"Our security camera has her leaving the house, walking down the drive." Arthur said "Looks like she's going to the train station." He added.

"If she was going to Paris, why didn't she take her phone?" Ariadne asked. "She _knows_ how important that is."

"Doesn't look like she was under duress. She looks calm." Eames said looking at the video of their Control leaving the house. "She has her old bag with her." He said softly, feeling confused.

"I'm calling Astucieux." Arthur told them pulling out his phone. "See if he can get me security video of the the station. Since Hecate's kidnapping of his family, The Point Man had grown to trust the French Detective.

As dawn broke once more over the charming little house, Astucieux had arrived.

"Monsieur, I hope this is more then just the girl running off with a... _Copain_." He said

"Sybil doesn't have a boyfriend." Ariadne said sounding offended.

"We wouldn't have called you here if we thought she had run off with some boy." Arthur told him.

"Well, Monsieur, Madam, see for yourself." The French Detective said presenting the team with a slender disc.

The view from the security cameras popped on the family's TV. A mass migration of nameless faces. Descending from the trains, boarding the trains. All with places to go. Oblivious to the cameras watching them.

"We estimated she took this train from your own security cameras. We got lucky." Astucieux said pausing the video. He used the remote to zoom in on a corner. It was Sybil. In her usual casual, trendy, bohemian, chic style. She was with someone.

"Who the hell is that?" Eames asked pointing at the young man by her side. Astucieux started the video once more, Sybil had smiled up at the young man and pulled his baseball cap off his head. She opened her umbrella for the two of them to share.  
>"Cameras caught the couple going into a coffee shop, then... He fast forwarded the disc, another camera. A grinning Sybil with something in her hands. The young man holding open the door of a cab for her.<p>

"She dose not appear in distress, or being taken away against her will." Astucieux reasoned.

"She was taken!" Ariadne said harshly standing up.

Arthur was quick to take her hand from where he was sitting. He recognized that look in his wife. It was the same look she had when she had first dreamed. After Mal had killed her. A defiant look. Her eyes, wide, her voice assured. She was determined.

"We don't know who _he_ is!" She told the French Detective. Astucieux nodded.

"Oi Madam, but theses teenagers, they don't always tell you things do they?" He asked. His voice was full of sympathy. His was trying to stay reasonable.

"Sybil would have told us." Ariadne said squeezing Arthur's hand. "She is not like other teenagers."

"Where did the cab go?" Eames asked, pointing at the TV.

"Unfortunately, we lost them in the traffic." The French Detective said. "Let us wait a few days. Stay calm. Certainly, the young lady will call you when she is ready to come home. Perhaps she is just showing you her independence? A great French custom, No? Our young people show their families how independent they are, then come home." He said with a laugh. As if Sybil leaving in a cab with a strange man was in her nature.

"No... you don't understand." Ariadne said feeling helpless. She felt tears start to well up in her eyes.

The Detective was aware of how the Team made their living. He could never understand what it was like to live in this life. To exist half in a dream, half in reality. Sometimes, not certain which was which.

"If she _has_ run off with some boy, _I am going to kill her_." Ariadne said calmly. Her voice was very steady and precise. She enunciated each word with intense meaning. Only her eyes gave away her true emotion. "If she comes back pregnant, _I am going to kill her_." She said on the verge of tears. She was sitting up in bed that night. No able to sleep.

Ariadne hoped that a boy was all that was behind this. Such a simple thing. No kidnapping, no corporate giants wanting to use her talents for their own purposes. Just a stupid boy. It had been a long day.

They had made several calls to Hagion as well as Saito, hoping Sybil would have called or dropped by her favorite sanctuary. Privet detectives were dispatched. In the 40 hours the Girl had been missing, every detective or bounty hunter money could buy was on the trail of the Team's missing Control.

"Maybe Eames is right." Ariadne said "Maybe half a million is not enough." She reasoned looking up at her husband. He was in their walk in closet getting undressed. After such a trying day, He had taken control of his wife and son. Seeing them both to bed. His son had been much easier to convince to go to sleep.

"Half a million is more then enough. Eames has his own little band of trackers hunting for her to." he said. He knew he had to remain calm. He could not show that he was worried about Sybil to. The Girl had grown on him. She was like part of the family. It was hard to think of their lives without her. But giving into the anger he felt would only upset his wife more.

"If she has run off with this guy and you do kill her," Arthur told her turning off the closet light. "We can either frame Eames, or You, Me and the Baby can sail off on the ship. Be fugitive pirates." He said raising his eyebrows, trying to make her laugh. He failed at it.

"Arthur, what about all that blood? On those towels, in the bathroom?" She whispered. They hadn't told the French Detective about it. They respected the secret. "What if she's hurt?"

"She didn't look hurt in the video." He reasoned climbing into bed next to her.

"Should we have told Astucieux?" She asked.

"No," He said "We don't know what it means yet."

Ariadne sank into her pillows and curled up into the Point Man's arms. He breathed in the smell of her. The soap she used, the shampoo. All smells that were so welcoming and familiar to him. Smells that reminded him of sleeping next to her, kissing her, loving her. Smells that brought happy images of his beautiful son. Arthur fought back a sudden lump in his throat as the Architect was gently touching his bare chest with her finger tips.

"I love you." She said softly. He chuckled.

"I love you to." He said kissing her forehead. "No more worries about Sybil. She'll call in the morning, you can yell at her, and everything will go back to the way it was. Okay?" She nodded. Childlike, believing everything he told her.

"My sources tell me... Hecate was found near death in the woods about a mile outside of the Fischer estate." Eames said that morning. The Forger looked tired and annoyed and happy to dump more bad news on the Team.  
>"Near death?" Arthur asked. He looked to Cobb and Ariadne. She was feeding the Baby. They all looked at the Forger with wide eyed expressions.<p>

"Yes, it seems a hunter found her tied to a tree, barely alive. Her face and legs cut up with a knife. Wild animals had been at her. She was identified by an American Extraction Team." The Forger said.

"We need to call them." Cobb said standing up "We have to warn them."

"Can't do that, Mate." Eames said with a painful smile.

"Why not?" Ariadne asked.

"Because the whole lot of them were killed last week." The Forger said casually.

"All of them?" Arthur asked. Eames nodded.  
>"Seems they were military, wanted to recruit Hecate into joining them. Every one from their Extractor to their Point Man was taken out in the night. Executed." Eames told them<p>

"My God." Ariadne breathed.

Alexander banged a chubby fist on his high chair tray. He gave his mother an angry look for forgetting to feed him. It was a classic "Arthur" look.

"We have any idea where she is now?" Arthur asked looking at his son. Eames shook his head.

"Right," Cobb sighed. "We know the drill, we have to move. Go to the safe house."  
>"What if Sybil comes back?" Ariadne asked.<p>

"We can't stay here if Hecate is coming for us." Arthur told his wife gently. "Finish feeding him. I'll load the car." He stood as the Team seemed to split apart. Cobb, to his room to grab his things. Arthur, upstairs to take care of their belongings. Eames left in his car to go back to Paris. All were planning to meet up at a second location.  
>"I'll take Sybil's car. We can put some of the Baby's things in it." the Extractor said coming back with his go bag. Ariadne nodded as she tried not to think about losing so much in such a short amount of time. This had been their home for the better part of a year. They had been happy here.<p>

But Hecate knowing their location was a very real threat to all their safety. She prayed Sybil would realize they were at the safe house and go there when she returned. She tried not to linger on the thought of Hecate being tied to a tree the way Eames described. She knew Sybil had done it. Left the Beast there in the woods, to die. A wounded animal is most dangerous when it's close to death.

**Astucieux- The French Detective (I completely forgot about him in the list of characters, sorry)**


	4. Chapter 4

Space Between

"_If you miss the train I'm on,_

_You will know that I am gone._

_You can hear the whistle blow,_

_A hundred miles."_

_500 Miles by Peter, Paul and Mary_

'There is nothing so very romantic about traveling by train.' Sybil thought as the train moved quickly and steadily along its orderly little tracks. She was staring at her own ghost of a reflection in the window of the crowded car. Daylight was filtering in, and it made the girl looking back at her look half there. Empty.

'Perhaps there was a time when traveling by trains was romantic and an adventure.' She sighed and looked around the car. It was mostly tourists now. Wanting to stretch their dollar. Most of them looked like the backpacking, hostel type. All the better. They could be lost easy in the menagerie of people.

She had taken transcontinental trains before. It had been four years ago when she went to find Cobb and his Team. It seemed like a lifetime ago. She had to smile at that thought. If she was counting her recent stint in Limbo, it _was_ a lifetime ago.

She certainly didn't feel like the same person anymore. The person who came out of Robert Fischer's estate was not the same person who had gone in. She wasn't sure if this was a bad thing or a good thing yet.

"Tell me about the Air Force." She found herself saying aloud. She and Nolan had traveled for several hours in silence. She had nothing really to ask him before, but she was suddenly curious. "Did you fly planes or something?" He chuckled from his seat next to her.

"No. I'm not a pilot." He said "In college I was into computers a lot. Air Force gave me the chance to work with _very_ impressive technology. I'm a Second Lieutenant, I get to be the kid of the Team."  
>"Impressive technology, like the PASIV? Dream Extractions?" She asked.<br>"Yes." He told her.

"You must have finished High School early." She mused absentmindedly. Nolan smirked and nodded. He didn't miss her subversive question to how old he was.  
>"I'm 22." He told her. "School was, pretty easy for me. What about you?" He asked<p>

"What about me? Am I good at school?" She wrinkled her nose, trying to hide a grin. He smiled.  
>"Well how did you get involved in Dream Extractions?" He asked<p>

"You seem to know more about my life then I do." She retorted. He nodded.

"You Father worked for COBAL until he dropped off the grid. You started to show up on radar after you joined Cobb's Team." At the mention of her Father, Sybil became quite. Her face became unreadable. She looked at her translucent reflection.

"My father didn't 'drop off the grid'." She told the American Point Man. She took a deep breath. "He kidnapped out Architect and subjected her and others to dream manipulation using a device called the PASIV-4, before they fought back." She looked at Nolan "Ariadne used the dream to trap him."

"What do you mean _she used the dream_?" Nolan asked seriously.

"She was the architect of the dream, she created new mazes that trapped him."

"Only the dreamer can control the dream space." Nolan said

"With a normal PASIV, sure." Sybil conceded. "But that PASIV-4 works a little different. It can allow multiple people to construct a dream at once."  
>"Why didn't he just wake himself up?" Nolan asked.<p>

"He was trapped to deep in the maze. Cobb and his Team pulled the plug before he got out." Sybil sighed. "It fired his brain. So you see, that's why I'm not worried about my Team, they can handle themselves."  
>"Why did you join Cobb and his Team? I mean after what they did that to your own Father, why did you seek them out?" Nolan asked softly. Sybil returned her gaze to the window. The clouds were darkening.<p>

"It's starting to rain." She said.

The train eventually ferried them to Italy. The look a chartered ship to Egypt, where Nolan had finally convinced Sybil to take a plane.

"By the time they realize where we are, we'll be there." He reasoned. She only shrugged. Taking a plane may be faster but it would mere minuets for Arthur or Eames to find her.

**Cairo, Egypt**

The dark clouds of Europe faded away to clear barren sky's of North Africa. It was a totally different world. Despite being a city steeped in ancient history, Cairo was very much alive with youth. The grand hotels by the Nile were almost reminiscent of Vegas.  
>"We have few a hours before our plane leaves." She told him. "We need to change clothes." She pointed to a small boutique that housed long simple saris and kurtas.<p>

"No way." Nolan said looking at the simple neutral cover shifts.  
>"You don't have to wear a sari." Sybil teased. "But were going to India. We need to-"<p>

"Blend in. I know, you keep telling me." Nolan said.

Sybil and Nolan now looked much more the part of season travelers. Gone were his jeans and ball cap. They were stowed in a the new carryall the pair had also gotten. While changing clothes, Sybil hastily managed to clean and re-dress the self inflicted wound on her hip. Neat, little, lines of scars were printed on her skin. For the first time ever, she regretted them.

Once on the plane, Nolan told her easy memories of his life in America. The only child of teacher parents. He had been orphaned at the age of 13 and raised by a fussy little Aunt in Virginia.

"Was she nice?" Sybil asked thinking about Hagion.

"Yes." He told her. "She wasn't used to kids, but she was very nice. She was older and she passed away last winter."

"I'm sorry." Sybil said pulling her covers over her. She was sorry. "Not having family..." She let the sentence die.

**New Delhi, India**

After almost 3 days of intense travel, they reached New Delhi. It was a mesh of new, generic buildings built around third world rubble. Bizarre music blared out of colorful cabs as Sybil and Nolan were driven to a modest hotel. It was to late at night by the time they arrived, to find Fischer. Once they had had time to sleep, they could resume their search.

"You said he was serving under some Guru?" She asked climbing the stairs of the simple style hotel. The inn keeper spoke to them in Hindi about noise and wanting to ensure they were a proper married couple. Sybil nodded at the gesticulating little man and handed him more money.

"Yeah." Nolan said giving the exchange a curious look. "We don't know why yet. He's here in the city. What was all that about?" He asked pointing to the inn keeper walking away.

"Nothing." She told him opening their room. It was a simple thing. Small room, one bathroom, no TV and only one full sized bed.

"Why didn't you get two rooms?" He asked.

"We need to look like a couple. Two single foreigners stand out to much." Sybil said looking out the window. She knew she was back on the grid again. That as soon as she bought her ticket and presented her fake passport, that Arthur's research had located her.

"Well, where are you going to sleep?" He asked.

"_I'm_ going to sleep on the bed." She assured him. "You can have the floor if you want it."

"Why do I get the floor. Your a modern 21st century woman." He said throwing their bag on the bed with it's tacky spread. "We can at least flip a coin for it."

"I'm giving you the opportunity be chivalrous. You should be thanking me." She told him, going into the bathroom.

The city had not gone to sleep just because it was night. Like all large cities on Earth, it hummed along. It was oblivious to changing of night to day.

Sybil lay awake in the uncomfortable little bed. She was starting to think the floor might have been a better choice. She missed the charming little house in Saint Cloud. If Hecate was alive, surely the Team would have left Saint Cloud for the safe house by now. She was certain that Eames or Arthur would have been told by someone that Hecate was coming. She had to stop her. She should have never have left the Beast's death to chance. But she never had it in her to kill. COBAL's man on the plane had felt like a projection of sorts. He had been a bad guy who would have certainly killed her. Hecate, she had known. The Chemist had been a apart of their Team for a year. She shook her thoughts free of the Beast and tried to focus of the difficult task of falling asleep.

"_That's_ Fischer?" She asked. It was late morning in the city and Nolan and Sybil were watching a group of unwashed cult members so thin and bedraggled, they gave hippies a bad name. He looked nothing like the finely tailored young man she meet only few months ago. Nolan nodded. Sybil had to look closer. Fischer had lost about 30lbs making him look like a whole new person. The sun had bleached his hair to an almost reddish hue. His fine suites were gone. Replaced by worn and functional linen clothing. His steps were less careful, he seemed much more focused.

"He looks happy." Sybil mused. Nolan chuckled and nodded.

"We think he joined this cult here to find himself. Maybe seeking atonement for his role in your kidnapping." Sybil tore her gaze from the new Fischer to the American Point Man.

"After he faked his death." She added. He shrugged

"Don't ask me what's going on in his head." He said. They watched as the former Young Businessman part from his group and entered a small shop.

"Lets go." Sybil said leaving her seat. He hands went to into the messenger bag. She had paid a good price for the small 38. special she had bought that morning. If Fischer wanted to find absolution, she would give it to him. She would get the information about Hecate and leave Fischer dead. In Sybil's mind, he was just as guilty and the Beast for throwing her into Limbo.

Nolan was by her side as they entered the small bodega. It was a true hodgepodge of everything the neighborhood needed. It was a general store that houses a little of everything as well a restaurant. It wasn't very crowded as Sybil spotted Fischer very easily. He was barely recognizable now. But his fair eyes were certain give away. They no longer looked board or determined. They now looked peaceful.

"Hello Robert." She said softly. Fischer turned to see her. Sybil knew she looked different as well. With her simple head scarf, draped around her head, she knew it would be hard for him to place her. She knew he recognized her. Knew her face anywhere.

"Sybil." He said, his eyes growing wide. They stared at one another, mesmerized.

"Have you seen Hecate?" She asked in a whisper. He did not break her gaze as he shook his head.

"Hecate is still alive. She would have returned to you." Nolan said "You recruited her."

"I never recruited her." Fischer said softly. "What she did, she did on her own."

"Liar." Sybil hissed

"No it's true." Fischer said. His face was sincere. A hurried need for them to believe him. "I had been obsessed with dream extractions. I found a teacher, one who put me in contact with Hecate. They offered to find out what your people did to me."

"In exchange for what?" Nolan asked. The American Point Man never saw Sybil remove the gun from her bag. Fischer say it and his body became tense.

"In... in exchange for nothing." The Young Businessman said honestly. "That... woman wanted to help. I had no idea she would do what she did."

"Do you know what she did?" Sybil asked raising the gun. Nolan looked at her in surprise.

"Sybil put that away." The American Point Man said looking around the market. It was to late, the locals had already noticed and were making a hasty exit to the streets. They were alone.

"Do you know what she did to me?" Sybil asked again. Her eyes were manic, strange in her head. The Young Businessman put his hands up.

"I know." He said "I found out after." He was apologetic. Sybil shook her head. Her eyes blinked out tears as she felt a sharp pain boil in her chest.

"50 years she kept me in Limbo!" She shouted. "50 years! Do you know what that was like? I _feel_ nothing inside anymore. I _feel_ dead now." Fischer nodded accepting his role in her educed purgatory. Nolan stared at both of them. He was certain he was about to witness an execution.

"You said they found you," He asked Fischer. "How did you find this teacher?" He asked. Fischer nodded sadly and closed his eyes.

"In Crete." He told them. "A witch named Circe." He looked at Sybil. "I've been waiting for you. I'm sorrier then I can ever tell you." He told her. "Just do it quickly alright, Sybil?" His eyes were imploring.

"Sybil," Nolan said putting a hand on her back as he heard sirens "We have to go."

It was if a spell had been broken. Sybil felt the fight go out of her. She lowed the gun and dropped it to the ground. She had nothing left to say, all the air and left her body. She almost fainted when Nolan propped her up.

"Come on, it's time to go." The American Point Man said in an easy tone. Sybil allowed him to guide her out of the little shop and into a back ally.

They left Fischer standing alone in the market. Heavy with his unforgivable sins and an unloaded gun on the ground.

"You brandished a gun in that market." Nolan said as he ushered her out into the city. "My God what were you thinking?" He looked around the street corners as his military training kicked in. Sybil seemed a shell of her old self as she allowed him to guide her away from the market and the scene of the attempted assassination. "Your the one who talks about blending in, then you try and kill a man?" He looked down streets and alleys as they finally reached the hotel.

"We have to go to Greece." She told him. "Fischer was used by Hecate just like we were." She explained in a dead voice. "We need to find this Circe."

**Don't worry kiddies! Some good A&A is coming up! I know this chapter may have been kinda boring but it is going somewhere. **


	5. Chapter 5

The Minotaur and the Witch

"_Dark, profound it was, and cloudy, so that though I fixed my sight on the bottom I did not discern anything there."_

_Dante's Inferno, The First Circle of Hell_

**Bay of Biscay**

Not so much a safe house, as a safe ship. "The Minotaur" cut a bold gash across the sea. It had been the Teams plan all along to retreat to the old fashioned sailing ship. Because it was always in movement, it made it harder to trace and therefore, the safest place for the Team to hide.

Ariadne had felt a calmness come over her as she maned the helm of the old ship. "The Minotaur's" sounds, the creaks, were like familiar whispers. A reminiscent conversation.

The wind blew a strong November breeze threatened rain but nothing to severe. She and Arthur had managed storms on the ship before. They would be fine.

They never had a baby on board before. Arthur had been a little worried about having Alexander on a ship where anything could happen. A sudden pitch could wash everyone overboard. It was a legitimate fear. The Team took turns with the Baby below deck.

It was the Forger who lacked the sea legs. He didn't take kindly to his world being turn into a jerking moving thing.

"How's Eames doing?" Ariadne asked Cobb as the Extractor came up from below.

"Still not feeling well." The Extractor told her. Arthur shook his head and continued his work on the computer.

"Sybil just popped up on the grid." He said suddenly.

"What? Where?" Ariadne asked almost leaving the helm to rush to his side.

"Cairo, Egypt. She bought 2 plane tickets to New Delhi." Arthur said.

"India?" The Architect exclaimed. "Why India? What's there?"

"I don't know." Cobb said. "But at least we know where she is now."

Night had come over the coast of Spain. The Team had made safe harbor and made plans to sail to the Strait of Gibraltar in the morning. Arthur had convinced them to dock near Italy to catch a plane to India. Ariadne was sure that they could make the trip in under two days.

"Eames is still sick." Ariadne said climbing into bed with her husband.

Alexander was sharing the tiny guest room with Cobb. The Baby had finally started to sleep though the night. Ariadne and her husband trusted their precious Baby with his Godfather. The only other person they trusted as much was his Godmother, Sybil. Cobb had been there for them since they found themselves new and untrained parents. The Extractor had taught the Architect to swaddle her new born and assured them both they would be wonderful parents. Sybil, never doubted they would be great.

The Forger had decided that fresh air would be the only cure for his perpetual motion sickness.

"Definitely not a sailor." Arthur agreed with a smile. "I told him to keep looking at the moon. Hopefully it will pass." He looked at the Architect. The few days out on the bay and being out in the sun had kissed her skin and hair, making both darker and lighter respectively. She looked happy.

"I think we should have taken some time off and done this a long time ago." She smiled at him. He pulled his wife under him. Kissing her.  
>"Do you remember the first time we made love on this boat?" He asked. She giggled.<p>

"Your first night on board." She told him. "You were so shy all of the sudden." She accused.

"I hadn't seen you in a _month_." He said defensively. "I was worried you were mad at me and I would never see you again."

"Well, are you glad you saw me again?" She asked innocently as his hand wondered up her night gown.

"Oh... I think so." He said with a grin. She playfully slapped at him. He captured her slender tiny hands in his large ones. Gently restraining her. His body on hers. His full weight bearing down on her. His lips stealing her breath. She surfaced and said breathlessly.

"Do you remember making our son?" She asked him as he breathed hot kisses on her neck. His body grinding on hers, despite the barriers of clothing. His breath was rapid and harsh as he rocked her body with his.

"Of course I do." He almost growled, not wanting to break the rhythm.

She smiled to herself. Feeling the power she had over him. Enjoying it. She loved being a sexual person with him. Being the object of his desires. To see and feel his intense love for her. His persistent grinding on her now was causing an specific dampness that made her start to shed the sheer panties she had on. Arthur was quick to sense her body language and used his skillful hands to remove them completely. She was ready for him when he gently took her. Not with reckless abandonment, but as an experienced lover who knows his Lady's secret needs.

With a slow and purposeful need, fitting his body perfectly with hers. Arms and legs wrapped together as they moved in sync. He released himself finally as her breathing became more hurried. Her body was now sensitive to his touch. His seed felt hot and purposeful in her body. Her lover, her husband, would not allow her to sleep that night. The Point Man was far to restless. He slept briefly, only to rise once more to lay claim to his Lady.

"Are you trying to get me pregnant again?" She whispered to him after the third time. It was almost dawn, and they were both physically exhausted but alive with a frenzied energy. He smiled and looked guilty.

"I think I might." He admitted, but with his boyish smile that showed a certain mischievous side.

"Not the best time." She gently scolded. "With Hecate and everything."  
>"She doesn't control when I make my babies." He said rolling on top of her again. "I will <em>never<em> let her touch you again." She saw the look of lust in his eyes then. Her body, helpless under his need. He claimed her once again, before they finally slept a deep, powerful, dreamless sleep.

**The Island of Crete**

Sybil and Nolan wandered the narrow little streets of a colorful neighborhood. They finally stumbled on a massive wooden house. The large wrap around porch was inviting, but the locals seemed to shun not only the house, but the space around it. Without fear, The Control and American Point Man climbed on the porch to find a young boy standing guard.

"We've come to find Circe." Sybil told him boldly. The Boy pointed to the front door of the house.

Once inside, Sybil and Nolan saw only a dilapidated inside. Rat eaten furniture and a dangerously broken staircase. They never heard the boy creep up behind them to force them into Circe's dream world.

"You have come here to destroy me." Came a voice. Sybil tried to focus her eyes. There was a form over her. A hand had snaked its way up her skirt, feeling the scar tissue on her thighs. "It seems you are destroying yourself to." Sybil tried to bat away the hand. To stop it from it's explorations. Her mind was to foggy. The hand roamed freely. Her vision finally blinked back into seeing clearly. She saw the Witch. It could be no other. Surrounded by sheer fabrics of red orange and purple. Circe was kneeling over her, dressed in nothing but a thin red swath of sheer fabric. The Witch smiled serenely as her hand moved up the Control's abdomen.

"Stop that." Sybil managed to say, moving away.

Circe smiled at her and removed her hand.

"Or?" the Witch cooed. "Tell me, what makes you think you can come to me, with your _broken_ little mind? Do you think you can defeat me? I, who live in this world so completely. Who have created worlds and civilizations and watched them destroy themselves."

"Your not God." Sybil said feeling her strength pouring back into her body. It was an intense feeling. Unlike any she had felt before. She had not been in the dreams since Hecate had put her in Limbo. She suddenly felt very powerful.  
>"I am God," Circe replied with a crafty smile. "I can create and destroy in the dream."<p>

"Anyone can destroy." Sybil said sitting up.

She wasn't sure how it started. She felt so strong suddenly. She kept her gaze on Circe as the walls started to tremble. The Witch looked around her in shock. Sybil felt the power of the dream shift. _She_ was in control. The orange and purple fabrics caught fire and were ripped out of the room as if by a strong wind. Circe cast her eyes at the Control. The Witch had lost control of her own dream world.  
>"How are you doing this?" She cried as the dream started to collapse. "<em>I'm the dreamer<em>! I control this world!" The ornate, seductive room was ripped away and replaced with... nothing. An empty void of space.

The Witch cowered in her own body as Sybil approached her and looked down kindly. Circe looked up with large frighted eyes. Like that of a defeated animal.

"Tell me Circe, if I destroy your world... dose that make me your God?" Sybil asked.


	6. Chapter 6

The Dream Keepers

"_The Devil's hand's have been busy."_

_John Connor, Terminator: Salvation _

Sybil awoke to a simple, clean, little room. It was nothing like the filthy dilapidated sleeping house. She saw Nolan was beside her. His eyes opening from the dream. They were seated in comfortable chairs. They were hooked up to a basic PASIV.

There came a shout. Sybil recognized the strange Greek language.

"Percy," She said calmly as a man came into the room. The American Point Man was on his feet quickly. Despite the man being armed, Nolan had skillfully managed to subdue him and take his weapon.  
>"Who else is here?" He barked in a self assured tone. "I know you understand me!" He shouted again pointing the loaded weapon at of the intruder. Sybil looked at the PASIV. It's white IV leading in a third direction. Her gaze following the line to a hospital bed.<p>

"No." Said the man as Sybil walked over to the body, deeply embedded in it's coverings. It was the form of a woman. Very pale and thin, but still...

"Circe." Sybil whispered. "Why is she still asleep?" She asked. The man was silent. Nolan pressed the loaded gun hard into his temple.

"There was an accident. She is in a coma. She has been sleeping for many years now. She lives in the dreams." He said

"You keep her mind alert in the _dreams_?" Nolan asked looking up at Sybil horrified.

"Yes." The man said. "We are their Keepers."

"Their?" Sybil asked calmly. "You mean there are others?" The man nodded. Nolan hoisted the Keeper on to his feet.

"Show us." He said.

It was a hospital of sorts. Smaller and less complex then a modern hospital. Sleeping patients were grouped together in large rooms. Five to ten of them, all hooked up to a single PASIV. All shearing the dream within.

"Their_ all_ comatose?" Sybil asked looking over each face. They seemed to be from every ethnicity, their condition grouping them together in the dream world.

"Yes." Said the Keeper. "The only way their families can communicate with them now, is though the dreams. They can only live inside the dreams."

"That's not living." Nolan said. The American Point Man still had the gun to the Keeper's back.

"The dream is all they have left." The Keeper said. "Without it, they would just be sleeping."

"And you force people into Circe's dream world?" Sybil accused.  
>"You sought Circe out." The Keeper said. "Anyone who goes to the house, is there to find <em>her<em>."

"Why isn't she with the others?" Nolan asked.

"Circe was to... abusive... in the dreams. She spends most of her dream time alone now." The Keeper said reluctantly.

"Has Hecate been to see Circe recently?" Nolan asked.  
>"You will have to ask Circe." The Keeper said<p>

"I think she is no longer in any condition to tell us anything." Sybil said with a smile. Nolan looked up at the Control. Sybil shrugged. "Hecate was here a few days ago. She will be back in a few days." The Control looked at the Keeper. "When she dose come back, you will take her into Circe's dream, and I will be waiting for her there."

**Tyrrhenian Sea**

"Sybil just landed in Crete." Eames said coming up on deck. The Team was only a few hours from Rome.

"What? When?" Ariadne asked.

"One of my Trackers have located her and our mystery man landing in Crete a few hours ago. He followed them to some kind of dilapidated house in a the Oveipo* district." The Forger looked up at the Team. Cobb and Arthur were exchanging worried looks.

"Well, what's there?" Ariadne asked.

"Circe." Cobb said.

"Who?" Ariadne asked. Arthur didn't meet his wife's eyes and Cobb looked at his feet.

"Who's Circe?" Eames asked.

"She is someone who trained Hecate." Arthur told him. "We went to her, to try and find out who Hecate was working for."

"She's an Extractor?" Eames asked

"An Extractor, a Chemist, a Forger." Arthur said in an annoyed tone. "She dose a little bit everything. If Sybil is under Circe's dream world, we may not be able to get her back."

"What do mean?" Ariadne asked sounding horrified.

"Circe is very manipulative. It was hard to tell what was reality and what was the dream." Cobb said.

"She is very skilled in the dream. We never even met her in real life." Arthur told his wife. "I never... met her in real life. She may be a 400lbs man."

"If she can do all you say, she's dangerous." Eames reasoned.

"Very." Cobb agreed.

"Well, we still have to go there." Ariadne said "If Sybil went to find her, then she must have had a reason. Maybe this Circe knows where Hecate is. Maybe Sybil left us to try and stop Hecate."

"We can't go to Circe." Arthur said.

"We have to get Sybil back." Ariadne argued. "Cobb, if your right, she could be in danger." Ariadne went back to the helm of "The Minotaur", turning the ship about.

"When were you in Limbo?" Nolan asked. They were awaiting Hecate's return. Watching the Keeper and nurse's attending to the dreamers. Sybil sighed. "You said you were in Limbo for 50 years? Hecate put you in?"

"I've been in Limbo a lot longer then 50 years." Sybil confided sadly. Her eyes were dead. "50 years was just the most recent."

"What do you mean?" He asked.

"The reason I was never sad about what happened to my Father... The reason I joined Cobb and his Team... was because my Father allowed Hecate to do experiments on me. I was very young, she put me in the dream, into limbo. I was lost there for a long time."

"Jesus." Nolan breathed. He understood the implications. "Is that why you wanted to kill Fischer? Because he hired Hecate to do that?"

"I don't think he hired her." Sybil said looking up at the American Point Man. "I think he was telling the truth. I think they told him about the inception. Convinced him something was wrong and he needed answers."

"Why?" He asked

"I think Hecate wanted to recruit Ariadne, Eames and even me. She knew about their talents. She was willing to hurt me to get what she wanted form them. It worked till we fought back." Sybil explained. "Fischer was just a pawn. A blind." Nolan nodded.

"All the time in Limbo, at such a young age, the kidnapping. How could you stand it?" He asked

"I can't." She chocked. Tears falling from her cheeks.

"Is that why you left your phone behind?" He asked "Were you planning on leaving the Team?" She nodded. "You didn't have any luggage with you." He reasoned out. "Were you planning to kill yourself?" She nodded. A vacant look on her face. He nodded, accepting this. "You know this world is real, right? I _know,_ you know that."

"It_ is_ the real world." She agreed. "I can't live in it anymore."

"The Minotaur" arrived in Crete at dawn. The light rain had finally stopped. Ariadne docked the ship with her usual skill. The men had said little to her on her plans to join them.

"I'll just get Alexander's bag and then we can go." the Architect said hurriedly. Cobb and Eames were in the galley, Cobb holding the Baby when Arthur cam up behind his wife.

It wasn't a hard thing to do. Her body was small, and his was strong. With expert control he wrapped a capable arm around her body and brought the chloroformed cloth handkerchief to her mouth and nose. Ariadne realize what was happening immediately and made an attempt to struggle. Her large eyes looked behind her at the Point Man. He held the cloth firmly in place, not hurting her at all.

He made a gentle shushing sound as her eyes rolled back behind her and her head lolled. Arthur removed the cloth, easily picked up her slight body, and carried her gracefully to their room. Cobb followed the Point Man into the little bedroom where Arthur placed his wife down on their bed. The Extractor put Alexander (almost asleep himself) in the crib beside her.

"I'm sorry." Arthur said kissing her gently on the forehead. He was alone with his wife and son now as Cobb and Eames went on deck. "I can't risk losing you or Alexander again. I'll be back soon." He thoughtfully covered her up with a blanket. She looked as if she and the baby had just decided to take a nap. The gentle lap of the water on the boat, rocking the baby to sleep. Arthur looked at his son. "Take care your Mom alright?" He said placing a note on the bedside table. When the Architect finally woke, she opened the note to read Arthur's neat, old fashioned script.

_My Love,_

_ I'm sorry. I cant risk you and our son. _

_If we don't make it back before dawn, take yourself and Alexander to Saito in Japan. He will keep you safe. _

_ You and Alexander's are the only things that matter to me. DO NOT come and find us. Please keep yourself and my son safe. _

_All of my love,_

_Arthur_

**I thought it would be interesting to use the PASIV to communicate with people in a coma. To know what they would want. To give them a chance at a second life. Circe can ONLY exist in the dream, making her not a real person. **

_*Oveipo: Greek, meaning Dream_


	7. Chapter 7

Wolves at the Door

_"The Beast is loose in the streets of Bethlehem, the rats are in the corn."_

_Abagail Freemantle, Stephen King's, The Stand _

"Why don't we just end this as soon as Hecate comes back?" Nolan asked holding up the hand gun he took off the Keeper. The pair waited in Circe's privet room. The languid comatose patient breathed on her own, was fed though a tube, and slept a deep, unbreakable sleep.

Sybil gazed down at the powerful Witch. In real life, she was painfully thin, pale and sickly looking. Only in the dreams, was she powerful.

'Even that,' Sybil thought, 'can be taken away.'

"Sybil?" Nolan asked. The Control came back to reality as she turned to look at the American Point Man.

"Because while in the dream, while in Circe's dream, I extracted information form her mind." Sybil explained "Hecate is just the tip of the ice burg. Circe has trained an army of Extractors, Chemists, Architect, and Forgers. We have to find out who and where they are."

"Why don't you just go into Circe's dream again?" He asked

"I don't think she knows exactly where they all are. But Hecate will." Sybil explained.

"How could you extract this information from Circe's mind, if she's so powerful?" Nolan asked. Sybil smiled.

"I think... I can't explain it." She told him. "I took control of Circe's dream. I ripped the dream apart. Tore it away. I stole information from her mind." Sybil said with a contented smile. "The Witch tired to seduce you didn't she?" She looked at Nolan. He didn't meet her eyes. Sybil smiled. Remembering the memories she extracted from Circe's mind. The Witch had impersonated her, to seduce Nolan for information. How easily the American Point Man gave into the Witch as she was disguised as the Control. Sybil wasn't disgusted by it, only intrigued, that perhaps Nolan liked her. Liked her well enough to be seduced and used by someone pretending to be her.

"It... was, Confusing." He said finally. She nodded.

"Yes it is." She agreed. "I'm not angry." She assured him. He smiled a bashful smile of perfect white teeth and blushed. Sybil tried not to grin, as she felt her cheeks grow hot.

A small nurse came into the room to attend to her patient. Nolan and Sybil were to busy not looking at each other to notice the tranquilizer gun she carried. With sudden speed, the nurse had shot and left the pair sleeping on the floor. Outside the little privet room, a Keeper stood next to a tall trim woman. Recently healed scars were evident on her face, arms and legs.

"So they know about Circe." Hecate said in a sullen tone.

"Yes." the keeper told her. "We have the three men who came to the sleeping house this morning." He added as Keepers rolled stretchers down the hall into Circe's room. Hecate smiled at the familiar faces of Cobb, Arthur and Eames. The Beast's once deceptively beautiful face was now marred by the large cuts Sybil had inflicted only a few months before.  
>"Must be my birthday." She said with a hostile smile. "There should have been a woman. Their Architect. Where is she?" the Keeper shook his head. Hecate had to think a moment. None of the Team had traveled on Saito's privet airline. They had just seemed to have vanished a few days ago.<p>

"She has a ship, 'The Minotaur', check the harbor for any ships who made birth from France." The Keeper nodded and fled from the Beast.

Hecate entered Circe's privet room with a silver brief case. She prepared her compound and attached the IV's to all seven of them. She would enter the dream. Extract all the information she could from Cobb and his Team, that worthless American Point Man, and allow Circe to break what ever was left of Sybil's mind. In the dream, Circe would help her manipulate Eames and Cobb to work for them. In the Dream, Hecate and Circe... were Gods.


	8. Chapter 8

The Devil and Mr. Eames

"_Go to Heaven for the climate, Go to Hell for the company." _

_Mark Twain_

Eames awoke to a lavish bed in seductive room. The warm wood paneling was softened by long drapes of red, orange and purple. He last remembered entering a decrepit old wooden house looking for Circe. Arthur and Cobb had seemed reluctant to go into the house. But Eames knew nothing of the Witch.

He sat up and looked around. Finally laying eyes on Circe. She was crouching on the floor. Her face soft and lost in troubling thoughts. She was dressed in the yards of red, orange and purple. They were negotiated around her body to cover delicate area, yet left little to the imagination.

"My God." Eames said with all the sincerity he felt "Your Beautiful." Circe looked up at him. Her wide deep blues eyes crinkled into a smile.  
>"Thank you." She said. She relaxed out of her slouch. Eames left the bed and came to sit my her.<br>"Are you Circe then?" He asked.  
>"Yes." She said "You and your friends came to see me."<p>

"Were looking for our friend, Sybil." He said meeting her eyes. She had a lovely face, just as bewitching as her body.

"She is here also." Circe said looking worried. "So is Hecate." She added gravely.

"Were dreaming?" Eames asked. "Who's dream is it?"

"That remains to be seen Mr. Eames." The Witch told him.

"What do you mean?" The Forger asked. She shook her head.  
>"Don't worry, your safe with me. Hecate isn't stronger then I am. At least not in the dream." She told him.<p>

"Are Arthur and Cobb here as well?" He asked. She nodded.

"They were fun the first time they visited me. Now I find them a bit of a bore." She told him with a roll of her eyes. "All Arthur thinks about is that little wife of his." She said with a disgusted tone.

"Oh! I know." Eames agreed. "It's simply awful. There so in love it makes me sick." Eames chuckled. "You should see their baby. He looks just like him." A large grin lit up the Forger's face.

"What a horrible thing to say Mr. Eames!" Circe chastised, in a joking tone. "I would never tell you that _you_ looked like Arthur." The Forger laughed.

"It's such a curse being so good looking all the time." He told her. She nodded.

"It sure is." She agreed.

"Listen, I need to find my friends. I need to find Sybil." He said casually. Circe nodded.

"You think of her like a little sister." She told him. "The two of you understand each other." He nodded.

"She's the only one in our little 'family' who I can stand to be around at times." He admitted.

"I saw what Hecate did to her." Circe said. Eames had grown quite. "It was unforgivable. It broke her mind, you know."

"What do you mean?" He asked. Circe looked at him.

"The time in Limbo, at her age? She can't be expected to come back from that. In the real world, she is just a shade. It's in the dream world, she is alive." The Witch told him.

"I don't understand." He admitted.

"We may find her, you may be able to bring her back to the waking world. But she will be just like a projection in that world. It's only in the _dream_, that she can truly exist now." She told him.

Eames stood up and reached out a hand to her. Circe smiled softly and allowed him to help her stand.

"We have to find her, find the rest of my Team and then we can all get out of here." He said.

"We can try Mr. Eames." She told him opening a little door. It gave way and fell apart. Becoming dust before it hit the ground. It reveled a strange world. A world that could never exist. "I cant promises we will succeed."

It was a magnificent city. Populated by no people. Waterfalls came out of buildings, rivers flowed where streets had been. Grass and trees grew healthy and totally out of the concrete of the crumbling buildings.

"Their fighting for control of the dream." Circe told him in answer to his unasked question.

"Who?" He asked looking in amazement at the waterfall running savagely out of a tall office building. As though it were made from rock.

"Sybil and Hecate." Circe told him guiding him along a narrow walkway. It seemed a dangerous path to traverse.  
>"Maybe we should jump." Eames said. "We can wake up, bring my Team out manually. Take care of Hecate."<p>

"I wouldn't try it if I were you Mr. Eames." She told him looking back at him. He had made the mistake of looking down the steep cliff of the building. To see the river of streets below. "With the two of them fighting for control of the dream like this... who knows what would happen to you. The rules are not the same."

"How can they fight over control of the dream?" Eames asked. "You either the dreamer or you not."

"That's conventional wisdom, yes." She told him "But Sybil has proven... different."

"What do you mean?"

"I brought her into my dream." The Witch explained. "I have skills in the dream world that have caused dreamers to seek my guidance for years." Circe turned to look at the Forger. "She managed to rip away my dream and take control. I have never seen an ability like that before."

"How did she do that?" He asked feeling a coldness grasp him as he finally understood what the Witch was telling him about Sybil being only a shade in the real world.

"I think her time in Limbo, gave her the ability to control anyone's dream." Circe said retuning to her careful steps across the buildings, that were unsure if they were part of a mountain or a city.

"One more thing," Circe said. "When we find your people we need to find a way to wake them up quickly."

"Why?" The Forger asked, steeping in the came careful spots the Witch did.

"Because Hecate has sent Keepers to 'The Minotaur' to find Ariadne." She explained.

Circe didn't need to explain to him what exactly "Keepers" were. Ariadne and the Baby were sleeping on the ship in a small harbor, and danger was quickly approaching.

**I think Eames and Circe would be really good friends. That she would not want, or be able to seduce and manipulate him. Perhaps, because he dose so much manipulation on others, he cant be tricked easily. **

** I find it very fun and easy to write for the both of them We shall see if they met again. **


	9. Chapter 9

Transformation

"_All wrong-doing arises because of mind. _

_If mind is transformed, can wrong-doing remain?"  
>Buddha<em>

Sybil had a harder time gaining control of the dream. Perhaps her fear of the Beast was keeping her from wresting control of the dream. She felt the reassuring presence of Nolan. He was somewhere. She walked the along the crumbling bridges over the rivers, and past waterfalls. She was not sure if she was the one who was trying to dream of a city or if it was Hecate. Whatever it was, the results were startling. Unlike anything any single person could imagine.

There was something else. She was certain Eames and the Team were in the dream with her.

'How could that be?' She thought as she walked purposefully though the maze of rivers and abandoned buildings. But she was sure, she _knew,_ Eames with Circe. Not under any duress from the Witch. Not afraid.

Cobb and Arthur were not frightened either. They _were _lost however. Trapped like projections in intense, unsolvable paradoxes. She sighed as she realized she may have to face the Beast alone. She felt Hecate in the dream and was certain her path would take her directly to wherever their former Chemist was hiding.

She finally alighted on a rooftop. A long stretch of concrete overgrown with healthy grass and trees. The view it granted, showed buildings rising and falling as she the Beast struggled for control over the dream. And then... Hecate was there. She had in her tight grasp...

"Percy." Sybil said softly. She looked at Hecate's eyes as the grass and trees melted away, like snow. Revealing cold concrete. The American Point Man was being held down with a strong forceful hand. Sybil knew Hecate's physical strength must have been greater in the dream. Judging by the bruising and cuts to Nolan's face, he had fought her vigilantly.

"Are you the one doing all this?" Hecate asked pointing the menacing hand gun at Nolan's throat.

"If you kill him," Sybil said not taking her eyes off of the Beast. "You'll only wake him up."

"And then I'll kill you while you sleep." Nolan growled.

"We both know that's not true." Hecate said. "If you released control of the dream to me, perhaps he would only wake up. But with us fighting like this, who knows where you little boyfriend might find himself."

Sybil knew this was true. The grass and trees started to grown back. Like spring time.

"Sybil?" came Eames voice. Sybil didn't turn her gaze away form the Beast as the Forger and the Witch approached the her. She sensed they were there. That Circe was not working for Hecate. That Circe was not working for them either.

"Sybil, are you alright?" The Forger asked. The Control nodded. "Where's Cobb and Arthur?" Eames asked.

"Trapped, but alright." She said holding Hecate's eyes.

"Sybil, one of us has to wake up." Eames said standing close to her. "Sybil?"

"We can't." Sybil told him "We cant wake up from a dream like this."

"Sybil, men are after Ariadne." Eames whispered. "She and the Baby... there in trouble."  
>"I know." Sybil said. "If I let Hecate take control of the dream, were all dead."<p>

"Sybil, how are you doing this?" He asked.

"I don't know." She told him. "Eames, there are others, that Circe trained. Others like Hecate. We have to find them."

"Fine, how do we do that?" The Forger asked. Circe huffed.  
>"You call yourself an Extraction Team?" She accused. "Sybil, create a safe, a place for Hecate to hide her thoughts from you."<p>

"Circe!" The Beast shouted over the space between them. "What are you doing?" The Witch turned on the Chemist and shouted.

"You stole from me! Abandoned me! Used the skills I taught you to destroy a child's mind. Now, it's come home to you. I wont stop it." Circe said.

Eames noticed a large safe on the side of a building.

"Here!" He shouted. The Beast raised her gun and fired at the Forger. A large brick wall sprang up from the grass to protect him.

Deep in the changing maze of the city, Cobb and Arthur looked up. Gun shots.

"What was that?" Cobb asked.

"Automatic weapon." Arthur told him. The walls started to shimmer and move then. Releasing them from their prison. The Extractor and Point Man started to run through the opening before it could close up on them again. They stumbled onto a roof top into an impossible city. A city that was confused. Where nature and man made structures, warred over who would claim the space.

"Cobb! Little help!" Eames shouted. The Extractor and Point Man looked over to see Eames standing by a safe. "We have to get it open." He shouted as the wind started to pick up.

"Sybil!" Arthur screamed as they ran towards the Forger. From their angel they could see the dueling women. Hecate holding a young man hostage, Sybil standing alone.

He thought he saw the red, orange and purple flash of Circe, but the wind was picking up more.

"What's in here?" Cobb shouted.

"Information about other Extractors, Architects and Chemists!" Eames shouted back. Cobb quickly broke open the safe and piles of photographs and files flowed out, like blood from an open wound. "They work with Hecate!" Eames shouted handing them the files. "We have to track them down!" 

As the men invaded Hecate's privet thoughts, Sybil kept her eyes locked on Hecate. The Beast fired off more gun shots but each one was stopped by a sudden appearance of brick walls that bloomed and faded like flowers.

"I cant' keep this up!" Sybil shouted to Circe.

"Stop what your doing! Stop fighting her!" Circe shouted as rain poured from the darkening sky. Brief shots of lightning lit up the sky.

"What?" Sybil asked. The Witch was telling her to do something that would kill them all.

"Your going to_ rip_ this dream apart! There is nowhere for us to fall to! Not even Limbo! Your going to kill us! Let go!" Circe shouted. For whatever reason, the Control did what the Witch said. The buildings faded, the rain and wind stopped. Grass and trees bloomed back as the Beast kicked Nolan off and stalked towards Sybil.

"Do it now." Circe said softly. Knowing what she meant, Sybil took control of the dream again, but only slightly. A rift broke open under Hecate's feet. The Beast made a feeble and futile attempt to grab a hold of the ground as it fell away. She was swallowed up under the ground then. A shrill scream came from the Beast as she fell, deep, into the darkness.

The city reclaimed the grass and trees, turning the green into cold gray.  
>"Huh." Sybil said dully. "I guess I was dreaming of the city."<p>

Nolan had run to her then. Embraced her tightly. His lips were soon on hers. Kissing her with a gentle warmth, only young and new love can do.

"That was amazing!" He said with a smile Sybil couldn't help but smile back. They head a throat clearing behind them and turned to see Eames, Cobb and Arthur coming to them holding large stacks of files.

"Who's your little friend?" Eames asked pointing to Nolan.

"We don't have time for this." Sybil said. "Hecate sent Keepers to 'the Minotaur' we have to wake up and stop them."

"What?" Arthur asked in shock.

"We have to wake up... NOW!" Sybil shouted. She gave the dream over to Circe and forced her Team out into the waking world in a blinding white light.


	10. Chapter 10

I'd Come For You

"_So if you're ever lost and find yourself all alone,_

_I'd search forever just to bring you home.  
>Here and now, <em>

_it's a vow."_

_I'd come for you, by Nickelback_

Ariadne could still taste the chloroform on her lips. She woke with a mild hangover. Her son was sleeping in the little crib beside her. She read over Arthur's note with disgust. How dare he just decide to leave her behind like this? To make it worse, he blamed it on their son.

She couldn't be to angry at him and the others. How would they have managed Alexander while defeating Hecate? Leaving her behind had been sensible. It had also been smart not to waste time trying to convince her to stay.

She heard noises on deck. The Architect took a quick look at her son to make sure he was still sleeping, before going to greet her husband and the Team. Hopefully they would have good news.

Sybil snapped open her eyes. The world she had created was gone and the harsh reality of the waking world was all around her. She was breathing hard as the power of the dream left her body. She was ordinary again. A shade.

The Control looked around the room at the rest of the Team, waking. They slowly worked themselves out of the dream. She counted them as they returned. Cobb was out, Arthur was out, Eames was out, Nolan was out, Hecate... there was an empty chair beside Nolan.

"Where's Hecate?" Sybil asked, her body snapping alert. A primal animal scream came from beside her as the Beast flew at the Control. Hecate brandished a large hunting knife that rose in the air and fell, Sybil barely had time to react. The first blow of the knife hit hard and barely missed her. Sybil finally felt the rush of adrenaline she had only felt in the dream world before. A need to stay alive.

Her hands were over Hecate's as the two women fought for control of the knife. The Beast was possessed. Wherever it was she had gone through in the dream, had driven her insane. She wheedled the knife again, when gun shots rang out in the room. Hecate's body fell heavily on Sybil as hot sticky blood was let lose to pool over her.

Sybil was breathing hard as Eames was at her side. Arthur and Cobb were pulling Hecate off her. Nolan held the gun he killed the Beast with, securely over Hecate's body.

"She's dead." Cobb said checking for a pulse. Nolan still stood over her, breathing hard.  
>"Are you alright Little One?" Eames asked, helping Sybil to her feet. She looked down at her shirt, now soaked in hot, ruby red blood.<p>

"It's not my blood." She whimpered. Tears falling down her face. For the first time, since leaving Limbo, she _felt_ something.

"Where are we?" Arthur growled.  
>"In a hospital." Nolan said as Sybil tried to compose herself. Eames had an arm around her. "Circe." He added pointing to the bedridden woman.<p>

"That's Circe?" Cobb asked in disbelief.

"We have to go." Arthur said standing up, not looking at the sleeping form in the bed. "Those men are still coming after my family."

With a renewed sense of purpose, the Team left the sleeping hospital. The Point Man shed his blazer and gave it to Sybil to put on. They were approaching the heavily populated streets. Her clothes were still covered in Hecate's blood. The last thing they needed was the sight of all the blood to bring unwanted attention.

Ariadne knew right away the men on deck were not her Team. Cobb stomped around when he walked. Eames had a swagger that made shushing noises across the wooden deck. Arthur's footfalls were long, light and purposeful. Who these men were, she had no idea. She stood in the narrow little galley, hidden from view and looked at the hatch to the deck. It had been locked from the outside and someone was testing the knob. They were trying, and failing, to be quite. Ariadne felt her heart start to race.

She thought briefly that it might be the harbor master. But no one had called out for permission to come aboard. The Greeks invented the maritime arts. They, above any other people in the world respected the basic laws of all sea fairing vessels.

Ariadne had went back to the little room she had shared with Arthur. Their baby was still sleeping soundly. As quietly as she could, she locked the bedroom door. Whatever was going to happen, she had to protect her son. She had to protect _their_ son.

Arthur had hidden a small hand gun in the galley that he thought she didn't know about. The door of the Hatch was being worked on. The outside intruders were attempting to break into the galley and when they did, there was no place she could hide. No place she could run to.

'The Minotaur' was a classic sailing yacht. Small areas and tight passages. It had almost none of the grand space and luxuries of modern boats. Almost no technology other then the basics required by maritime law. Which made it the perfect place to go off the grid, but the worst place in the world to be trapped.

Ariadne looked at the hatch door and felt a sick panic course though her veins.

The Point Man had run, flat out from the sleeping hospital to the docks. The rest of his Team were behind him but barely able to keep up. They had reached the crowded docks when they heard the first gun shots.

There was screaming. Arthur found himself pushing past a torrent of people attempting to get away from the harbor. He heard several more shots then. 'Beretta, 9 mil pistol' Arthur thought, listening to the sounds. It was the gun he hid in the galley. 'How did she find it?'

Then he saw it. The graceful little ship at the end of the harbor. There were men on the deck trying to get inside to the lower deck. Trying to get to his wife. Trying to get to his son.

Without clear or rational thought, Arthur had scaled the barriers and leaped onto the deck. The Point Man was on one of the Keepers before the man knew what was happening. He heard screams coming from below decks and more gun shots. The Point Man had no weapon on him as he fought the Keeper off and into the water. Nolan was quickly by his side, shooting at another Keeper who had pulled a gun out. The American Point Man rapidly took the weapon from the dead Keeper and threw it to Arthur.

Inside the tiny claustrophobic living area, Arthur herd his son crying. He heard his wife scream again and shouting as the gun went off again. Then, they were before him. A burly keeper had Ariadne in front of him. Using her as a shield.

Arthur felt Nolan's presence beside him then. The American Point Man was a comfort even though they had just met.

"Let her go!" Arthur barked at the Keeper.

"No!" The Keeper said with dull watery eyes and a frightened look on his face. "You let us go, then I'll release the woman."

Arthur looked down at the Keepers feet. A body of yet another Keeper was there. The Architect had successfully fended off at least one of her attackers. Arthur returned his cutting stare at the man who held a gun to his wife's head.

"It's to close in here, sir." Nolan whispered. Arthur nodded. It was a signal. The American Point Man knew that they should let the Keeper have some room. They were not giving up Ariadne, just allowing the Keeper to think he was being let go. The two men lowered their guns and parted to allow the Keeper and his hostage out of the galley.

"It's okay." Arthur whispered to Ariadne as the Keeper roughly pushed her past the two men. The Keeper hid behind the tiny Architect as he reached the steps leading to the deck. Arthur knew Cobb and the rest of the Team would be waiting. He hoped they would not miss the opportunity.

They didn't miss it. The Keeper and Ariadne exited the galley to an empty deck. To an empty harbor. Neither one of them saw Cob or Eames jump from behind the helm and tackle the cowardly little Keeper to the ground. Sybil appeared just as Ariadne was released and pulled her away from the struggle.

Perhaps Sybil knew something.

Perhaps, as Sybil always seemed to know these things, she pulled Ariadne away for a reason.

Perhaps she knew the fight remaining in the last Keeper.

Perhaps she knew he still had the gun.

She only had time to pull Ariadne away as the Keeper fired his weapon in a futile struggle to break free. The bullet, was just in time to hit Arthur in the chest as the Point Man emerged from below decks.

**The next chapter starts with a very lovely poem called "The Death of King Arthur" By Tomas Percy. **


	11. Chapter 11

The Very Worst Thing

"_Most loyal have you been to me,_

_Most true and faithful unto death._

_And, Oh! To raise you up again,_

_How freely could I yield my breath!"_

_King Arthur's Death, by Tomas Percy_

Police sirens had wailed across the harbor even before the Point Man had been hit. Help had arrived quickly as Arthur lay on the deck. Blood, to much blood, flowing freely form his body. Arthur could hear Ariadne's voice as if from a great distance. As if he were in a well and she was looking down on him. He felt no pain.

He heard shouting. He turned his gaze away from his wife's beautiful face to see Eames waving paramedics on to the ship. See Sybil holding his son. Tears in her eyes. Cobb's worried scowl. Ariadne... He relaxed a little at seeing her face again. Her beautiful face. Leaning over him. Her voice coming to him like an echo.

'This is alright.' He thought with a soft ghost of a smile. 'I can think of worst ways to die.' He kept looking at her face as his vision faded away into white.

'The wost thing has happened.' Ariadne thought. 'The very worst thing.' They Team was in the waiting room at a nameless hospital. Arthur had been taken to emergency surgery.

Cobb and Eames were explaining to the police about the shooting.

She had given them a curt statement about men breaking into the ship. How her husband and her friends had fought them off. The blood on Sybil's clothes were explained away as Arthur's. Either the Keepers in the sleeping hospital didn't know or care to report Hecate's death. No one ever asked the Team anything about her. Names were taken down. Better or worse, they were on the grid again.

She couldn't worry about this now. Arthur had passed out in the Ambulance from the shock, his skin had turned a horrible gray and white. She had seen the gaping hole in his chest. See the blood that now stained the deck of the ship that was their home. That boat had truly been a home to them, as they sailed the world. A peaceful refuge, untainted by the rest of the world.

All she could do was worry. There was nothing else she could do. Her friends were there of course. But they gave her space. They passed the baby back and forth, quite and respectful to her pain.

Almost as if she had been shot, Ariadne felt a sharp pain in her chest thinking about losing her husband. What would she do without him?

Irrationally, her thoughts fled to daily house hold life. Arthur was the only one who understood that security system in Saint Cloud. He paid the house hold bills. She didn't even know where he kept the electric bill.

Then their was their son. How could she raise him without his Father? She knew Cobb and Eames would be there for her. For them. She knew they would not be enough. Never replace his real Father. Arthur loved Alexander deeply. The baby had been such a source of pride for him. He had such plans for their son. His son. Now those plans were in darkness.

What if she was pregnant again? To have a child who would _never_ know it's Father's love. Never have been held in those arms... in those hands. At least Alexander had that. Even if he would never remember it.

As if a flood gate had been released, she found herself overpowered by these thoughts. The Team was at her side as the Architect wept.

Cobb had taken Ariadne to a family waiting room. The Extractor was the only one among them who knew what it meant to lose a spouse. To lose the love of your life, tragically. To lose them with young children who would miss their parent. Ariadne wanted only to be with her baby and listened to Cobb as he promised her that no matter what happened, they would be there for her.

"Tell me what's going on." Eames said. He was in the cafeteria with Sybil and Nolan. The Control still wearing the jacket Arthur had given her to cover up Hecate's blood. It had only been a few hours ago, but it felt like years had passed. Sybil sighed and looked at Nolan.

"I met Percy, on the train to Paris. He was looking for us." She explained. She told the Forger about Hecate, about Robert Fischer still being alive. About going to Circe to find Hecate and the other dangerous Extractors the Witch had trained. She didn't tell him what he really wanted to know.

"Tell me why you left us without your cell phone. Tell me why you didn't call and tell us what was happening." Eames said blowing the steam off his coffee. His body was relaxed as Sybil and Nolan exchanged scared looks.

"Sir," Nolan started but Eames cast the American Point Man a look

"She can answer for herself." The Forger said. Eames gave the young man a half smile. "You'll have to forgive all of us." He said "We have trust issues."

"I was running away." Sybil said

"Why?" Eames asked. His tone was not angry or even surprised.

"I..." She started to say. Her words failed her.

"Because of the time in Limbo?" The Forger asked. She shrugged.

"I know this world is real." She said sadly. She could feel tears spring into her eyes. Her whole running away, making her friends, her _family,_ worry seemed selfish and silly now. Childish even.

She suddenly realized Arthur had been shot because of her. That if she had not run away, they never would have gone to Crete and Arthur never would have been shot.

"I'm sorry." She said feebly. Eames only looked at her.

"Why didn't you call us?" He asked. She shook her head. She didn't know.

"How long have you been cutting?" The Forger asked. She looked up at him in surprise. She felt Nolan take her hand under the table. She wasn't sure if Eames had figured it out or if someone had told him. She met the Forger in the eye and confessed the truth.

"It started about a week after we got back to France." She said. "I felt... numb, all the time." She looked down at her hand on the table. Nolan had given her other hand a reassuring squeeze.

"I can't explain why." She said simply.

"Do you think you have to wake up?" Eames asked.

"No." She told him sadly

"Do you want to kill yourself?" He asked boldly. She didn't look at him then.

"I did." She said "I was planning to."

"Do you still think that's what you have to do?" He asked. She shook her head. Emotions were bursting though her body. Stronger then they had been since before.

She felt very much alive. Alive with pain, anger, and guilt.

Ariadne had cried herself to sleep when the doctor came with the news. Alexander was curled up in his mothers arms. His chubby hands, curled into her long dark hair as the Baby dreamed. The Extractor had just gotten off the phone with Saito and Yori. No matter what happened, the Team would be returning to Japan.

Cobb looked up to see the Doctor, fresh form surgery.

"Are you a Mr. Cobb?" The kindly Greek Doctor asked. The Extractor nodded and braced himself for the worst.

For the very worst thing.


	12. Chapter 12

Suspense

"_The Suspense is terrible, I hope it will last."_

_Oscar Wilde_

**Japan**

Saito quickly had the Team taken back to Japan. His home was a palace in the country, complete with impressive security, and 24 hour staff. There was plenty of room for all of them.

James and Phillipa were finally reunited with their Father after their unexpected extended stay with their other grandparents. The Children were glad to be back in Japan, even if the mood of the Team was somber.

Plans were being made to return to France that day. For the funeral. The sudden and unexpected death had thrown everyone into a numb panic. Cobb had been strong, making all of the arrangements. He felt it was his responsibility and refused anyone's help. France had been the logical choice for the funeral and final resting place. He had been so happy here. France had been his home.

Ariadne was dressed in a simple black dress. Their flight would take them directly from Japan to France and with almost no time at all to change before the service. Saito had given her a quite suite of a bedroom that ensured her privacy. In a massive walk in closet, was stored her small collection of clothing. She took down her grandfather's carry all and finished the packing. She looked with disgust at the empty carry all that had not been packed or even touched.

"You know it's hard enough to pack for myself and Alexander without having to worry about your things." She said loudly enough for anyone else in the room to hear.

He husband sighed from his hiding place on the sofa. Since the shooting and recovery, he had become a somewhat spoiled and reclusive. He had liked being the waited on and worried about. But his wife had had enough of that nonsense and refused to let him lay about the house all day.

"Get up." She called at him throwing a pillow in his directing. Hitting him in the face.

"I hate funerals." He whined. He was fully dressed, his long body stretch out on the comfortable sofa.

"It's Miles." She told him sadly. "Cobb needs us all there. I have a feeling _he_ hates this funeral more then you do." She threw another pillow at him, which he caught neatly and tossed back at her.

Alexander was walking now. In his new little shoes, he clomped across his parents room. The Baby, almost a toddler, went directly for his Father. Clinging to the sofa to keep himself up. Arthur turned and smiled down at his son. His large hands and strong arms easily hoisting the baby up to him, holding him.

"I mean it." Ariadne said pulling the baby off him. "You haven't even looked at the mail."

Arthur sighed. He glanced at a small stack of bills and correspondence on the table.

"Why the rush to see the mail?" He asked as she put Alexander down on the bed and began to pack her husband's bags. The Point Man leafed through bills, letters from his lawyers, till he came upon a blank envelope. No name, no return address. He opened it in his careful way. It was a clear digital photograph of a sonogram. Inside the black walls was a shape. He looked up at the Architect. She had stopped to gauge his reaction.

"It's your daughter." Ariadne said with a smile. The Point Man looked at the image for a long time.

"How far along?" He asked with a smile. She shrugged.

"Four months now." She told him

"You just _now_ telling me?" He said. His smile getting bigger.

"Well with everything that's been happening... Your being shot. Then Miles." She shook her head. He carefully put the photograph in his breast pocket and finally stood up. His posture slightly taller then it had been before.

"Was it that time on the boat?" He whispered in her ear. Making her giggle.

"Probably." She told him. He laughed and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her. "We should wait to tell the others." She told him. "Till after the funeral."

"Alright." He conceded. "This is good news." He said kissing her ear. His hot breath and lips running down her neck.

"Arthur, our plane leaves in an hour. We don't have time." She scolded looking at Alexander who had taken off his new shoes, preferring his bare feet. Arthur sulked.

"We never have time to do the things I want." He said miserably.  
>"The things you want?" Ariadne teased. "What about the flying lessons you started to take last month? You think I wanted you to learn to fly a plane?"<p>

"That's not for me, that's for the Team." He explained. "We wont have to resort to Saito's airlines anymore. We can travel much faster if I can fly a plane."  
>"Were not getting a plane, Arthur." She told him casually.<p>

"Why not?" He asked in surprise. "You have a ship, why can't I have a plane?" She gave him a look.

"Do I really need to answer that?" She asked. Arthur shrugged.  
>"I can't believe Miles just passed away in his sleep like that." He mused, changing the subject. "That's not a bad way to die."<p>

"Were not talking about you dieing!" Ariadne shouted from the bathroom as she collected their bathroom things. Arthur smiled and grabbed at his son's bare feet making the baby squeal in laughter. The Point Man carefully and securely put the new little shoes back on Alexander's feet and picked him up with his normal grace and ease.

"I'm fine," he told her when she came out of the bathroom. "Just a scar now." He said holding his son in one arm and pointing to his chest where the bullet had been taken out.

"I know." She breathed.

Remembering the agony of waiting in that hospital in Greece. It had been more traumatic to her then to him. Right after emergency surgery, Arthur had woken up wanting to see her, his son, and wanting something to eat. He had been more annoyed with the inconvenience of his injury then in any actual pain.

The Doctors told them he had been lucky. The Keeper had been far away, the gun was not powerful, the angle was just right. No major organs were hit, or even nicked. Medical help arrived quickly. But still the shock and horror of it. The fear of losing him, was an oppressive weight that she couldn't escape from.

Ariadne blinked those thoughts away. Her husband were here. Alive and healthy. He had recovered quickly and returned to them. But still... he had been so close to the edge. A shade of death had come on their family. She finally understood the pain Arthur had felt when Braker had shot her. The Point Man had almost lost her and their baby.

"I hear Nolan is coming down to Paris for the funeral." Arthur said. Ariadne sighed.

"Yes, Eames said he can see Sybil so long as they follow a few ground rules."

Eames was sitting on Sybil's bed going through his list of rules. She had spent the past four months in therapy with Yori and other doctor's. It was all a condition if she wanted to remain on the Team. The Forger had taken her well being as his own responsibility.

Nolan had returned to America once the threat of Hecate had been eliminated. He had been promoted and given charge of recruiting his own extraction Team. He and Sybil had kept in touch with emails, and phone calls but this would be their first real meeting since Greece. Eames would allow her and Nolan to see each other only after some rules were established.

"No kissing, no cuddling, no _looks_ across the room." He said ticking them off "No spending the night at his hotel, no leaving without telling anyone, no leaving period, no being alone with him behind a closed door, no being alone with him period, at least three feet on the floor at all times, no sneaking him into your room, no tattoos of his name, no piercings below the neck, no foreplay, no dry humping, no biting or spanking, no fetish activities of any kind, no setting anything on fire, no putting anything on the internet." He rattled off not seeing the strange look on Sybil's face.

"My God Eames," She said finally. "What kind of sex life do you think I have?"

"Well hopefully, one that's less imaginative as mine." He answered.

The threat of Circe's Extractors were still very real. One that could not be ignored for long. The Team would have to re-group soon. Possibly join forces with Nolan's American Team as well as the Australians. Sybil's new abilities would also draw unwanted attention to them. Cause more problems they they knew how to handle at the moment.

The sadness of Miles death was a dark time, yet not and end of times. They would attend his funeral, stay in the house in Saint Cloud. Be a normal happy family, if only for a while.

** Thank you all so much for reading my work. I deeply appreciate the feedback. This will not be the last in the series. I plan on some one shot inception fiction right now. We will see Sybil, Circe and Nolan again soon. **

** I based Ariadne's ordeal with Arthur's near death on something that happened to myself. About 4 years ago now, my own husband very nearly died form a sudden medical condition that required 3 surgeries in 6 months. I can not begin to convey to anyone how helpless you feel when your spouse is walking so close to death like that. **

** I went to see him everyday while he was in the hospital and tried to lie to myself that it was nothing to serious. But, being a nurse, I knew better. **

** You start to think of very odd things. I remember wondering, how I would break the news to his mother if he died? How would I pay the bills? Where did he ****keep**** the bills? You start to think about all the little things he dose for you. How you would begin to cope without him. It's a trauma that I would not wish on anyone. **

** Luckily, he made it out of those dark times and is doing fine. But still... such a thing makes you extremely grateful, to have been granted a stay of losing someone you cherish so very much. **


End file.
